Gotham's Knight
by NTwebguy
Summary: This is a sequel to my story Cape Beginnings. I suggest that you read that one before reading this. Four years after Cape Beginnings, Clark has taken over Wayne Enterprises and become Gotham’s new protector. Please enjoy the story and review. Complete
1. Dark Night

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story idea, everything else is owned by WB.

Summary: This is a sequel to my story Cape Beginnings. I suggest that you read that one before reading this. Four years after Cape  
Beginnings, Clark has taken over Wayne Enterprises and become Gotham's new protector. Please enjoy the story and review.

**

* * *

**

** Chapter 1 – Dark Night**

Darkness wrapped around him like a second cape and the cool breeze felt good on his face. He looked down on his city and almost smiled.

_Almost._

It was peaceful up here, a time when he could just be with his thoughts.

Unfortunately tonight there was no time for reflections as his thoughts were cut short with the sound of squealing tires and sirens heading in his direction. He leapt from the top of the building and fell in a free fall towards the ground, his cape flapping behind him as the street came closer and closer. The car the police were chasing slid around the corner and was now almost under him. He quickly made some calculations and slowed his fall.

He landed on the front of the car with a loud THUMP, popping the tires and causing the frame the car to dig into the ground, quickly bringing the car to a halt. The car wasn't going fast enough to seriously hurt the men inside but they were most certainly dazed. The police moved in quickly with guns drawn.

"Thanks Superman!" The sergeant said as his men cuffed the criminals.

The man in the dark red and blue suit smiled, "No problem."

He jumped into the air and seeing a pair of young boys pointing up at him.

_And that's why he asked me to continue…to keep them safe. _

It had been four years since Batman disappeared from Gotham. He, Alfred and the whole Gotham PD had searched the city, from top to bottom, leaving no stone unturned. They had found nothing. No clues and no leads. He had just vanished with out a trace.

_Has it really been four years? _Clark thought as he flew over the east end of Gotham.

"HELP!" A woman screamed from below.

Superman swooped low and picked up two men who were in the process of dragging a woman into an alley.Takingsome rope from his belt and he hung the two men by their feet from a light post. The men were already swinging in the breeze by the time they realized what had happened.

"Miss, are you alright?" He asked the woman.

Clark looked her over quickly, she was dirty from being dragged into the alley and had a torn blouse and she had bruises on her arms. She seemed fine otherwise.

"Yes..I..ah, think so." She said, her voice clearly showing she was shaken up.

"Can I take you home or to a hospital?" Clark asked as he picked her purse up of the ground and gave it to her.

"I live just around the corner, I should be ok."

"Let me walk you home."

They walked slowly back to her apartment building. The girl was now clearly nervous walking with Superman and began to talk non-stop. Clark listened to her ramble and answered a couple of the questions when she took a breath.

When they arrived at her home she quickly walked up the steps and turned to Superman,  
"Thank you for walking me home Superman and thanks for saving me."

"Your welcome miss, I would suggest that you pick up a pepper spray for your purse."

"OK, I'll do that."

Superman watched her go into the house. It felt nice to talk…well in his case just listen to someone talk. It had been a lonely four years; Alfred had stayed on with him, refusing to follow Bruce's instructions and retire to an island. He said it was his duty to complete Bruce's mission too and he wasn't going to let Clark do it alone. But Alfred wasn't much for shooting the breeze.

Clark had taken over Wayne Enterprises after Bruce's funeral as Bruce had asked him to do. Alfred and He had concocted a story that he had died in plane crash coming back from some exotic island. All of Gotham turned out for the funeral; it was even televised live on several channels.

In his spare time he was in his last semester at Gotham University finishing a bachelors degree in business. Thankfully they had an online program that he could do mostly from home or work. He had quickly decided that if he was going to run a company he had better know what's going on.

Between work, school and fighting crime he didn't have much time for sleep, friends or…Lois.

He and Lois had gone on several dates during that summer but she had gone to New York for college. He had kind of blocked her out when Bruce died and withdrawn into himself and into the Batcave. He assumed that she got tired of waiting and moved to get away and start over. He never really said goodbye…

His communicator beeped interrupting his sad thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Sir there is an alarm at the Gotham Museum, in the **CAT** exhibit."

"Heading there now." Clark closed the link.

_Cat exhibit…who would…nah she's been gone for a long time._

Clark made a u-turn in the sky and cruised toward the museum. On approach he saw that there was indeed a hole in the skylight.

_Why were there so many skylights in Gotham?_ Clark pondered, _it seems like at least every other building has one. Bruce loved them, said they gave him the element of surprise when the glass shattered and startled the criminals below._

_Mind on the current task Kent!_ He rebuked himself.

He flew through the hole and landed softly on the floor below behind her. She was putting a jeweled jade cat into her pouch and talking to her pet cat which immediately hissed at him.

"Well if it isn't the Bat's replacement. You've grown up Junior." She purred.

"Catwoman. I had figured that you had gotten too old to rob anymore. You haven't been in Gotham in years." Clark shot back.

She ignored his remark, "It just wasn't fun without being able to tauntBatman anymore. But when I saw this item in the papers, I couldn't pass it up." She said as she gestured to her pack.

"It's several hundred years old, and was worshiped by some tribes in Africa. They believed that it would bring them peace and protect them from the other tribes. And…it's a cat. It's so hard to pass those up."

"Well maybe this is a good time to start." Superman moved closer right as she leapt over him and used her whip to swing her self up towards the broken skylight.

"Untill next time, Superman."

Clark was impressed by the way she was able to swing herself up and out of the room in what seemed like one single movement. _Wow that's quite the move...talk about graceful._

He quickly dropped his thoughts and followed after her. He flew up above the building and switched on his X-Ray vision. He spun around in a circle and finally spotted her running across a rooftop two buildings away from him.

He quickly caught up to her and blocked her path.

"You planning on keeping that? You know Batman always left you alone because you didn't steal in his city."

"We'll Bat's isn't around anymore is he flyboy?" She said with a note of sarcasm and…sadness in her voice.

She jumped from the building and lashed out with her whip to swing herself to another roof.

"You do realize that you can't outrun me don't you." Clark said as he almost materialized in front of her.

"The thought had occurred to me."

"Well why don't you return the item and…"

She dropped off the side of the building and lowered herself to the ground.

_No wonder he never captured her, he enjoyed the chase…and the view isn't bad either._

By now the media and the police choppers had caught wind of the theft and had caught up with them. They had all sorts of spotlights on her as she ran down the street.

_Looks like you aren't getting off easy this time Catwoman._

Switching to Super-speed he ran in front of her and she quickly stopped.

"Looks like I'm caught." She said as the police moved in with guns drawn. She took off the pouch containing the cat and threw it to Superman.

Everyone was surprised by how quickly she gave up that when she swung up and away everyone's reflexes were too slow to catch her.

"Son of a…" One of the cops started to swear, "…Hey what's wrong with Superman?"

Superman was on the ground curled up in pain; his skin was starting to turn a pale shade of green.

Several of the cops moved in too see if they could help.

"Give me room!" Gordon ordered as he pulled up on the scene. "Move the press back! And block their view."

The men formed a circle of sorts around the fallen hero and blocking the view from the two stations broadcasting and the three more setting up.

Superman weakly pulled a canister from his belt and began to coat the cat with liquid lead. It was a special formula and canister that Batman had designed for just this type of situation. As soon as the entire cat was covered in a thick layer of cooling lead Superman sat up and everyone could see he was feeling much better.

"What is that?"

"It's called kryptonite. I thought we had found all of it…" Superman pondered as he stood up on shaky legs.

"And it can hurt you?"

"Yes." Superman said as he burst angrily into the air.


	2. Old Friend

I'm a big fan of Catwoman, I have always loved how she could manipulate Batman. I really don't feel I ever do her justice when I try to write her in to the story. But I needed someone to introduce Kryptonite into the story, so I gave it a shot.

Thanks for all your reviews!

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Old Friends**

Clark flew back to the cave carrying the led encased Kryptonite. He flipped on his communicator.

"Alfred, meet me in the cave."

"On my way Sir." The old gentleman responded.

Clark sped up and the outside world blurred as he approached the Batcave entrance. He masterfully flew in and navigated the turns into the inner cave, landing gracefully in front of the massive Batcomputer.

"Long night sir?" Alfred appeared out of nowhere. Clark had the best hearing on the planet but Alfred could still sneak up on him.

"Yes, Catwoman was the one robbing the museum and she wanted this…" Clark showed him the cat.

"I'll get the containment container and tools." Alfred walked over to a storage bin.

"I want to know where this thing came from. Catwoman said it's very old, but I only arrived here in the early 80's"

"Maybe a timewarp or blackhole of some sort sir?"

"Is that possible?"

"If you'll pardon me sir, but after meeting you, I'm open to anything now." Alfred said with a slight smirk.

"Point taken." Clark responded with a small smile.

Alfred took the cat over to the workbench and began to heat the lead so that it would melt off.

Clark began to program into the Batcomputer a complex search for the origins of the cat and then made his way to the costume vault and changed into some workout clothes. He jumped on the treadmill and started to run. This was a specially designed treadmill; it was capable of speeds up to 120mph, not fast enough for Clark to get into a good sprint but enough for a good jog. Clark had picked up jogging as a way to relieve stress and right now he was thinking of running a marathon.

Clark had just made 50 miles when the phone rang; he flipped off the treadmill and flew over to the computer.

"Kent here."

"Clark…"

"Hey Chloe, long time. How are things going…"

"Clark there's been…an accident."

Clark sat down in the control chair, fear griping his face

"My parents?" He asked slowly

"No, they are fine. It's…Lana."

Lana and Chloe had become close since Clark left Smallville. Lana had started teaching at a grade school in Metropolis earlier that year after graduating with her general education degree. She and Chloe had gotten an apartment together.

"Is she going to be ok?"

"She's dead Clark. She was found outside of Smallville in Rider's field early this morning. It looked like it could have been an accident. But I'm not sure…"

"Where are you?"

"I was visiting my dad here in Smallville when it happened."

"I'm on my way; I'll be there as soon as I can." Clark hit the hang-up button.

"I'm sorry sir. Were you and Lana close?" Alfred put a hand on Clark's shoulder.

"Yeah we dated off and on; I couldn't get close because…I wouldn't tell her my secret." He said as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, secrets do tend to get in the way of relationships." The older man said with a knowing tone.

Clark opened his eyes and changed subjects, "Alfred, get us ready to go."

"Very good sir."

* * *

A few years ago Clark had donated money to build a commuter airport outside of Smallville. Why the Luthors had never put one in he would never know. He guessed they were only going to Metropolis and so a Helicopter from the front lawn of their castle was better than having to drive to a real airport. He could obviously just fly to Smallville much faster than a jet but he had found that he could get a lot of work done during the flights.

_And again to recap our top story, it appears that our city's protector, Superman does have a weakness…_

Clark turned off the TV and returned his focus to the documents on his laptop. He was finishing up some emails and memos that he had been neglecting for the past couple of days. _How you ever kept up this busy schedule Bruce I'll never know._

Alfred looked up from his Laptop, "Sir, the Computer just finished its analysis and it is inconclusive."

"Inconclusive? That doesn't happen often, if ever. Any thoughts Alfred?"

"I've already started the tests again sir and we'll check the computer when we get back."

"Great, so the computer doesn't know what's going on and there could be Kryptonite that Bruce and I never collected."

He and Bruce had spent a couple of weeks in Smallville gathering up the rocks from around the town shortly before Bruce's disappearance. He knew that they hadn't gotten it all, he was sure that the Luthors had a fair bit of it. But he had been reasonably sure that the rest of the world didn't have any or know of its existence…until now.

"It was appearing that way sir."

The plane landed twenty minutes later and He and Alfred made their way to the blue Mercedes ML500 SUV being pulled around from the back of the plane. Clark jumped into the driver seat, Alfred used to object to him driving but Clark insisted that it was Smallville, his home and he wanted to drive.

They quickly made their way to the other side of town and pulled into the gravel driveway of the Kent farm. He parked the car and jumped out to hug his mom who had come running out of the house. His dad made his way quickly from the barn and gave his son a hug.

"Good to have you home son." Jonathan told his son. "How are you doing Alfred?"

"I am doing well, thank you sir." Alfred responded as he took the bags inside.

"Dad I need to go down and check on Chloe, no telling what she is getting into while she is playing detective. I'll be back later."

"Be careful Clark." His mom told him as he climbed back into the Mercedes. He headed down the road towards Chloe's home. _Nice to be in Smallville again. I had missed the trees. _He thought as he turned up her drive and came to a stop in front of her house.

"Lois?" He was surprised to see her here. Chloe hadn't said anything about her. Lois had been in New York and had gotten a job at the New York Times.

"Hey Smallville." She gave him a quick hug.

Clark unsure of himself, "Hey Lois, ah, where's Chloe?"

"You know my cousin; she's off following a lead. It's how she deals with pain." She replied

"Sorry it took me so long to get here. What can I do to help?"

Lois looked in his eyes, _he seems a little cold. So down to business…_Out loud she said, "Chloe told me that the cops said it looked like Lana fell asleep at the wheel and ran her car into a tree. But Lana never goes out that way at night, she has no reason too."

"We'll go to the field and check it out."

They drove in silence to the field and easily found the crash site. The police had really trampled the area when they had looked for clues. Clark had long since adopted Bruce's pet peeve of the police and their handling of crime scenes. His trained eyes and x-ray vision began to sweep the area. He spotted a dart in the dirt; he quickly walked over and began to examine it.

"Chloe was right, it wasn't an accident. Lana was probably drugged and then drove her car off the road. Into that tree" He said handing her the dart. "Any theories on who would have done this? Did Lana piss anyone off recently that you know of?"

She thought for a minute, "No, she and Jason had a fight a few nights ago and she and Lex had an argument about the talon. But nothing unusual."

"Jason and Lana got back together?"

"They are…were engaged Clark."

Clark gathered his thoughts for a minute before he spoke, "Is Jason still working for Luthor?"

_Luthor? He's always called him Lex…I wonder what has happened to him._ Lois thought, "Ah yeah he still is."

"I'd bet she saw or heard something she shouldn't have, Luthor loves his secrets. We need to see her car."

They drove again in silence to the police impound lot where Lana's car had been towed.

_He used to be more talkative…_Lois thought

Clark easily broke the lock on the back gate when Lois wasn't looking and they snuck in.

Clark looked the outside of the car over as Lois looked inside. Clark found nothing in the crumpled mess but Lois crawled out of the car looking triumphant.

"Whatcha got?" Clark asked.

"Look at this Smallville; I think it's a piece of the LexCorp logo on this torn paper." She responded.

"I think your right, looks like this is a shipping order of some sort."

"Destination is…Smallville. Luthor is bringing something here and had Lana killed because of it." Clark said angrily.

Lois touched his arm, "Clark what's happened to you? You seem so cold and angry…You were friends with Lex…" Lois said in a half whisper.

Clark did feel ready to explode, four years of…everything…

"Get in." Clark gestured to the car.

He quickly drove away from the lot and found a clearing to pull off in to. They both got out and leaned against the car.

"You remember the night that you were blown off the building and I told you that Batman saved us?"

"Yeah, he didn't, you did."

"You knew?"

"Yeah it took me a while to figure it out, I was a little hazy on the details at first, but there was no way that Batman could have gotten to us in time."

"So you know I'm…"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry I didn't just tell you…"

"You know I'm actually not mad at you. I know why you did it."

"Well you may also know that he disappeared one night. I never knew you could become so close to some one in such a short amount of time, but after your fight and work with someone so closely…

Clark's eyes started to tear up, "I searched everywhere, I couldn't find him …Couldn't save him…"

Lois pulled him into a hug and held him until he let out four years of frustrations. Lois just listened to him and gave him all the silent support she could.

When he had finally stopped rambling she pulled his face up to hers and he smiled,

"I'm sorry for not staying in touch with you Lois..." He started to apologize.

She cut him off with a kiss.


	3. Kryptonite

**Archangel**: Glad you are enjoying it.

**MarkMark261**: Thanks for the Review! Yeah I wanted to leave the evidence against Lex as inconclusive and unresolved so as to help push him and Lex further apart. (and to help set up this chapter.) True that Lex would not have left evidence there…but I needed it there.

**Bigfan**: I'm sure you know how it goes, work and school and family, there hasn't been much time for posting, I got a three week break coming up here in June and I'm planning on doing a lot of writing. (Got another idea for a story I want to start) Thanks for reading!

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Kryptonite**

It was dusk when Clark and Lois headed back towards the Kent farm, for Clark it had been a wonderful afternoon. He felt as though the weight of four years without Bruce had been lifted from his shoulders. If it wasn't for the circumstances of his being in Smallville he could have laughed.

He pulled up to the main street in town and began to turn left when a LexCorp semi came barreling out of control down the street and heading straight towards a large store front. In the blink of an eye Clark jumped out of the truck and leapt into the sky changing along the way. He swooped in front of the truck and grabbed a hold of the front and planted his feet; stopping it within inches of the store window.

He looked up to see the driver of the rig breathing a sigh of relief. The man jumped down from the truck.

"Thanks Superman, I have no idea what happened. I know my brakes were working a few miles ago but as soon as I hit the town limits they were gone."

"Just glad I was here. What are you hauling here?"

"Not sure, but by the look of it I would say rocks." There were rocks spilt from the broken crates all over the pavement.

_What in the world does Lex want with a load of Smallville rocks._

As if to answer his question a blue Corvette came screaming up beside him and slid to a halt.

"Superman, what are you doing here?" Lex asked jumping out of his car and walking in front of the car's headlights.

"I was passing overhead when I saw the truck out of control." The Man of Steel responded.

"That was most fortunate. " Lex surveying the damage.

Superman almost rolled his eyes at his former friend, "What's with the rock?"

"The minerals in the rocks around Smallville have certain properties that I'm interested in… to research."

"I see" Superman said in disbelief.

With the quickness of Superman stopping the truck, the crates had broken their tie downs and fallen off the flatbed of the trailer. Superman walked over and began to put the crates back on the truck. He had only cleaned up a few crates when he felt the burning feeling of Kryptonite Radiation. He fell to the ground between two huge crates only to almost fall on a small piece of Kryptonite.

Lex came near and stood over him blocking the view of any onlookers and spoke quietly. "I heard about that incident in Gotham, but I had to see for myself. The radius of the rock's radiation is very satisfactory."

Clark looked weakly over at Lex, "Why?"

"Some people would say that I'm a controller. I guess I would have to agree. And you are…correction…were out of my control." Lex stood on one of Superman's fingers just hard enough to make Superman flinch. "I needed to remedy that"

Lex looked around and then swiftly kicked Superman in the stomach. He leaned over and whispered in Superman's ear, "That's for messing up my warehouse and getting my stock impounded last month." .

_The gun warehouse in Gotham, I stumbled on that by accident, got to love it when the bad guys talk too much._ Clark thought to himself as he clutched his stomach in pain.

Lex picked up the glowing piece of rock and put it in his jacket pocket.

"Here's the deal Superman, you are a threat to my business. I am simply making sure that you don't interfere with my interests." Lex thought for a moment, "Instead of this threat I could offer you a generous position in my company, maybe chief of my security…

"No deal." Superman spat from the ground with all the will he could muster.

"I figured that's what you would say. Remember my words well, I now control you. I will not hesitate to use this rock and destroy you." Lex said quietly as he turned to walk back to his car and drove off into the night.

With the Kryptonite gone, Superman quickly recovered and began to clean up the remaining mess. He was furious, Lex had caught him off guard…he felt so vulnerable, not a feeling he felt often nor liked. When he loaded the last crate he checked on the driver again and then leapt into the air leaving an angry boom in his wake. He flew a safe distance and then ran back to the car.

"Clark! Are you alright?" Lois asked as she ran up to him.

"Yeah…" Clark said as they got back into the Mercedes

"I called the cops..." They were arriving as she spoke.

"Let's get going, I'm not in the mood to answer questions tonight." Clark put the SUV in reverse and started on the round about way home.

"Clark, the green rock…It could have killed you huh?" Lois asked seriously.

"Yes."

* * *

Clark made his way up to his loft; lost in his thoughts. The afternoon funeral had been very nice, as nice as the circumstances allowed. The flowers had been arranged around the gravesite. Her friends had talked about their favorite memories of Lana. Someone sang _Amazing Grace_ before the friends and families dispersed… 

"Excuse me Sir…" Alfred interrupted his thoughts.

"Yes Alfred?"

"I was going over the findings again from the Batcomputer, and I think I have found something of interest. If I might suggest, I think we should fly back to the cave for a closer look."

"Look at what?" Lois asked as she walked into the loft.

"A case we were working on before we came here." Clark turned to her.

"Ah a case…" Lois said with a mischievous light in her eyes.

"Lois you can't come…" Clark started to say.

Thirty minutes later Clark flew the three of them back to Gotham.

* * *

"Wow!" Lois' voice echoed. "And all that time we spent together that summer, I never even dreamed this was down here." 

She walked over to the sleek, black Batmobile, and touched it. It was in great condition, Alfred kept it dust free and Clark drove it sometimes just to keep the engine running. She looked up and saw the Batwing sitting high on its platform, just waiting for it's masters return. Clark hadn't made that many changes to the Batcave, he had moved some of Bruce's trophys and exersize equipment to make room for him to work out and he had updated some of the Lab equipment. But in general the Cave was just as Bruce had left it.

The trio walked over to the lab area, Alfred had put the Cat into a led box and had fed various sensors and cameras into the box. Clark keyed in his pass codes to unlock the massive Batcomputer and brought up several programs and Alfred uncovered the Cat.

"The computer flagged this little part behind the eyes of the cat as a crack, but I got to thinking about it and…"

Alfred carefully removed the eyes of the cat with a chisel and put the Kryptonite eyes in a led box. Clark slowly walked over and picked up the now harmless Cat. In the first eye socket was a letter R and in the second was an A.

"R…A? What could R and A stand for?" Clark stood and began pacing.

"Could be someone's initials." Alfred.

Clark paced deep in thought as he held the Cat.

"Guys…" Lois started

Clark kept pacing, he didn't even hear her.

"Earth to Clark!" She said stepping in front of him, "You pull off a great brooding Batman impression." She said sarcastically with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Might I suggest that you look at the screen sir." Alfred interrupted the fight before it got really started.

Clark turned to see Lois standing by the console; she had run a simple search that had returned several matches on the local disk array. One file stood out from the others, this one Alfred pointed too. "Miss, if you will type the password **_Zorro'sMask_ **we should be able to get into that file."

"Zorro?" Lois asked.

"He was Master Bruce's hero growing up." Alfred replied.

"I wonder why it was not with the rest of the case files." Clark thought out loud.

The file opened and revealed a dozer on a man called Ra's Al Ghul.

"Take a look at the file creation date, Bruce's been working on this one for a while." Lois began, "It says here that Bruce thinks that Ra's heads a worldwide criminal organization, whose mission is to purify the planet and to create a better world where he would rule." She sat down in the big console chair, "Bruce speculates that Ra's will use whatever means and force necessary to achieve his twisted vision of a new utopian society. The computer lists Ra's bodyguard, Ubu and his daughter, Talia as possible known accomplices. And the only possible known location is a place called _The Lazarus Pit_."

Lois stood and turned to Clark and Alfred, "Do you think that this Ra's guy has anything to do with Batman's disappearance?"

"I'm not sure, kind of seems a little far fetched that the Cat, this guy Ra's and Bruce are linked." Clark stated.

"Well we don't have much else to go on do we?" Lois retorted.

"I'll give you that, OK suppose that they are linked. We really don't know were to start looking." Clark thought as he sat down at the console.

He quickly hacked into the museum's receiving log and found that the Cat was on loan from a museum in Rome. Unfortunately the digital trail ended there.

"Seems like Rome's a little behind the times." Lois joked.

"Well it is the best clue that we've found…" Clark said as he turned to face Alfred and Lois.

"The Batsignal has been turned on sir." Alfred said pointing to an indicator on the Batcomputer.

"Thanks Alfred, we'll figure out what to do in the morning."


	4. Allies: Part 1

Markmark261: What would I do without you, I'll fix those errors when I get a chance. Thanks man.

Thanks to all who have read and reviewed, you guys are making this a lot of fun to write.

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Allies: Part 1**

Superman swooped down over a brightly costumed woman who was running across the moon lit rooftop. She had just tried to rob the Gotham Savings and Loan and hadn't even made it in the door before she had set the alarm off. _Must be her first night on the job…_

"You know we could do this all night miss." Superman said as he dropped to the roof and cut off her path.

"Rainbow Streak"

"Excuse me?"

She composed herself, "Rainbow Streak is the name…"

"You can't be serious, Rainbow Streak?" It was all Superman could do to keep a straight face, "I'm not even going to start on the name, but I would suggest if you ever decide to try to rob a bank at night again that you get a darker colored costume."

She tried to move around him, but found that he had almost magically moved right in her path, "Again we could do this all night, but you know that I'm faster than you are."

"True, but I have a trump card." She said with a note of uncertainty in her voice as she started to reach into her bag.

Superman crossed his arms, "Let me guess…you bought a chunk of green rock and now you are going to throw it at me?"

The woman paused, Superman could read her body language fairly well, that had been exactly what she had planned on doing. It was all he could do not to outright laugh at how scared she looked now.

"If it helps you are not the first person to try this tonight. Did you guys draw straws on who got to try it first?" Superman asked.

The woman finally recovered her shock and pulled the rock from her bag and tried to hold it menacingly. Superman simply walked over and grabbed the rock and crumpled it effortlessly in his hand.

"You know I think you should ask for your money back."

Superman cuffed the woman and flew her to the local police station. _I got to hand it to whoever is making these things, they look almost real. You couldn't tell without x-ray vision..._ And that was the funny part, with his vision he could see the word "FAKE" inside the rock

Superman flew up to one of his favorite look out areas on the side of a tall high-rise and sat on a ledge for a moment.

"There is an old rumor that Superheroes never sat down…" A sexy sly voice came from the darkness.

"The woman who started it all, since you are sitting here next to me instead of running, I suppose that you haven't stolen anything tonight?"

"Nothing caught my interest…actually I came to see you." She sat down next to him out of arm's reach.

"Me?" Superman said shocked somewhat.

"I was curious if you liked my green rocks." She pulled one of the fake Kryptonite rocks from her pouch and tossed it to him.

He caught it, "I had been wondering who thought these up, made a few bucks have you?"

"I figured it was my fault that your little secret is out so I decided I would beat the real rocks to the market and redeem myself a little."

"Well it has made my night interesting. I had a hard time not laughing at some of the characters. I was also actually hoping to run into you too…"

"Sorry Junior, I'm a one-man-cat, although you are kind of cute…" She scooted closer to him.

Superman ignored her comment and slid off the ledge, floating into the air, "…I WANTED to know if you knew where the Cat came from."

"Oh, well, It was reportedly made in China hundreds of years ago. The legend says that a small village used it to ward off evil spirits or…Supermen." She purred.

"Ha, ha." Superman said sarcastically.

She smiled, "Anyway, it was stolen from a museum in Rome about 4 years ago and only resurfaced about 6 months ago. It was sent here were it would be better protected…supposedly." She stood and leaned closer over the empty space between them. "Why are you so interested in the Cat?"

He thought for a minute, "It might give me a clue in a dead case."

Her eyes sparkled, "In that case, check out the Himalayas."

She then dropped off the side of the building and lashed out with her whip catching a flag pole. She did a flip around the pole and flung herself out into the darkness.

_Himalayas…wonder what could be there._

Several hours later he few back to the Cave and found Lois sleeping in the big console chair. He smiled, she looked so peaceful when she was sleeping...possibly the only time he had ever seen her stay still. He quietly changed into a t-shirt and shorts in the costume vault, laughing quietly when he saw the acid trails on the material. _Someone actually thought they could hurt me with acid…don't they read the papers?_ He flew out of the vault and scooped Lois up out of the chair and flew her up into one of the guest rooms.

After tucking her in he made his way to the kitchen, Alfred was preparing a snack for the young hero.

"All is well in the world, young sir?" It was a joke that Alfred had started a few months ago, they both still chuckled.

"Yep, the bad guys are sleeping now anyway."

Clark took a bite of the sandwich, "I ran into Catwoman tonight, she was the one that had flooded the market with the fake Kryptonite that I called in about. I had a great time with all the poor saps trying to take down Superman. I got to hand it to her though; it will give the black market something to think about. Anyway, she clued me in to a little more info on the Cat and told me I should look into the Himalayas."

"Do you have a plan sir?"

"I think we should follow the lead to Rome and see where that goes. If you could start a search between Ra's and the Himalayas and see if there is any connection." Clark said as he quickly finished his sandwich.

"Very good sir. May I remind you that you have a 10 o'clock interview at the office this morning. I will arrange for us to leave tomorrow."

"Thanks Alfred. See you in the morning."

* * *

It was around 9:30 the next morning when Clark walked into his spacious office at Wayne Enterprises that overlooked downtown Gotham. _The nice thing about being the boss, you can show up to work late…_ He thought as he sat down at his large desk and began to sort through the huge stack of memos and mail. _It's only been a few days_, he thought to himself as he signed off on a few documents. His secretary came in twenty minutes later and gave him his updated schedule for the day and then announced that his first appointment had arrived. 

Clark stood and moved around his desk to meet his appointment; he opened his office door and was shocked to see an old friend waiting for him in the reception area.

"Pete?" Clark asked with his mouth hanging open.

"Hello." Pete shook his hand.

Clark quickly brought him into his office and gave him a huge hug. "It's been a long time man, what are you doing in Gotham?"

"Well I have a 10 o'clock with the President of Wayne Enterprises." Pete said as he sat down.

"You are here for my 10 o'clock interview?" Clark said in more shock as he poured them some coffee from the bar behind his desk.

"Yep."

"I'm sorry Pete, I'm running a little behind after this weekend and haven't caught up yet. Sorry I'm so surprised, I should have read up a little more on what's going on."

"Not a problem."

Clark took his resume and looked it over. _Pete was a currently a VP over at Dell, and had worked previously for Compaq before their merger with HP. Wow time flies when you are busy saving a city. _

"So Pete why are you leaving your job? Dell is a great place to work I hear."

"Two reasons, the first is…this is Wayne Enterprises. Anyone who is in their right mind wants to work here. And secondly because I think I can help you. I've kept your secret for years now and I believe it's time that you had someone help you keep things running so you can focus on keeping people safe."

Clark sat back in his chair and thought for a minute.

"You know, I would never admit this to anyone else, but this schedule is killing me. Has been since Lucius died, he was Bruce's and my right hand man. It's hard living two lives." Clark stood and walked around his desk, "Pete this is a huge task for you to take on, it would be an honor to have you come work for me."

Now it was Pete's turn to be shocked, he knew that interviewing with Clark would be short but it only had taken 5 minutes…

Clark hit the intercom on his phone, "Megan please start the paperwork to make Pete Ross our new VP of Operations."

"Right away sir." Came her tinny sounding voice over the intercom.

"Great" Clark click off the intercom, "Let me show you around, Mr. VP."

By quarter to noon Clark had finished showing Pete around and the two friends had made their way down the elevators to the building's front door.

"…I know this great French place we should go to…" Clark was saying as the doors opened.

"Actually Clark I have made arrangements for lunch for us."

"Really? Sounds great, let's go." Clark stepped into his waiting limo.

The Limo pulled up to an Italian restaurant, Clark had actually been to this place a couple of times for business meetings in the past. The head waiter greeted them and immediately seated them at his best table.

"If I remember right, the spaghetti is really good here, please don't tell my mom that I like it better than her's." Clark teased.

"Yeah I was told they had good food here." Pete glanced around nervously.

"Hey Pete, something wrong man? You look really nervous." Clark asked his old friend.

"Ah…well…" He started when he spotted two ladies walk in and waved too them.

"Lois, Chloe? What are you two doing here?" Clark asked them when they walked up to the guys table.

"Well, Smallville, we got an invite to a nice restaurant from two eligible bachelors, how could a girl refuse." Lois said as they sat down.

"Well…one eligible bachelor." Lois finished.

"Lois!" Chloe smacked her cousin.

"Last time I checked I was still an eligible bachelor, so that leaves you Pete" Clark said with a huge smile.

Pete blushed, "Clark, let me introduce you to my fiancé…" Pete took Chloe's hand.

* * *

AN: This will be a two part chapter; I wrote more than I planned so I decided to split it up. 

AN2: I've been trying to bring Pete back since I started this story in Cape Beginnings and I finally managed it. I really liked his character on Smallville and was annoyed that they got rid of him. Since this is AU, I figured why not bring him back in style and make him the VP of Wayne Enterprises.


	5. Allies: Part 2

MarkMark: Sorry about the Lucius Fox thing, I had killed him off in chapter 2 or 3 originally but I rewrote those two chapters so many times I forgot that I took that part out. I killed him off to specifically bring Pete back into my story.

Sorry all for the delay in posting, I just finished up finals so I was a little fried. Hopefully you all will enjoy this and forgive me.

**If you haven't seen the new Batman movie, you have to go see it, they did an awesome job!**

**

* * *

Chapter 5 – Allies: Part 2**

Clark reached over to his friend and clapped him on the shoulder and grabbed Chloe's free hand. "Congrats you two!"

"Thanks Clark." Chloe said giving his hand a squeeze.

"Details!" Lois almost yelled.

The girls spent most of lunch discussing on the details of the up and coming wedding. Pete added a few additional things to their conversation when asked but mostly the two guys just smiled and let the girls talk.

Clark spoke up when there was a lull in the conversation, "I guess you guys will be living in Gotham then. It will be nice to have friends close." Clark smiled, "So Chloe what will you be doing?"

"I've already transferred to the Gotham Herald, which you may know is owned by the Daily Planet. Perry White had no trouble getting me a spot on their staff."

"Good deal, now we may have some good news reporting here." Clark joked as Lois smacked his head, she had only recently also gotten a job at the Gotham Herald.

"Whatever Smallville, you wouldn't know a good article if it bit you in the butt."

Clark started to make a rebuttal when his cell phone rang.

"Yes Alfred."

"Sorry to interrupt sir, but **THE **computer has finished my search. I thought you might like to see the results."

"Thank you Alfred, I would like that. Bring the limo around." Clark flipped close his phone. "Sorry guys I need to run."

"That's alright Clark, Pete and I had to run anyway. Wedding plans you know." Chloe said with a huge smile.

"We'll have to do something again soon. Pete I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Clark paid the bill and walked Lois to the waiting car.

"When are you heading out of town Clark?" Lois asked as the car pulled away from the restaurant.

"I'm leaving tonight as it will be morning in Rome soon. I don't want to waste anymore time when Bruce could still be alive."

"I hear the shopping is good in Rome…" Lois said with dollar signs in her eyes.

"Lois…" Clark tried to say no.

"Kent, don't even start, I am coming. Wild horses nor a Superman could keep me from coming."

"Fine, you can come over with Alfred." Realizing he was loosing the argument, he almost always lost the argument.

"Don't worry Clark, I'll stay out of trouble. I'll be shopping."

_That's not what I'm worried about; I'm worried about trouble staying away from you._

Later in the Batcave Lois and Clark helped Alfred pack the mobile equipment that they would need for their trip. Thankfully Bruce had invested in simpler, mobile equipment for these types of trips. All the conveniences of the Batcave in several big suitcases, classic Bruce planning.

Clark was pouring over his maps of Rome when Lois brought him over a glass of Lemonade that Alfred somehow had found time to freshly squeeze.

"You're worried?" She asked as she looked into his serious face.

When Clark didn't reply she continued, "If anyone can find him, you can Clark."

She softly took hold of his chin and pulled his lips down to meet hers. Clark returned the kiss and pulled Lois into his arms as he deepened the kiss. Alfred started to come over with some dinner but quickly turned back into the shadows. He smiled to himself as he peeked back into the main area of the cave to see the young couple floating five feet off the floor.

* * *

That night Clark took off from Wayne Manor and headed east over the ocean with a huge smile on his face. He thought over his memories of Lois as he flew. Yeah they had gotten off to a rough start back in Smallville but he had always loved being with her…

He picked up speed the further he got from the city and quickly broke the sound barrier. The Sun rose quickly in the sky, wrapping his speeding body in its warmth. He quickly spotted the cost of Europe and was soon flying over Rome. He took the buckle from his belt and loaded up his GPS map program and found the Museum a few seconds later. Landing on the steps of the building he walked up the remaining steps and made his way inside. Superman walked to the information counter and asked to see the manager.

"Of course Superman." The woman replied as she hastily picked up a phone to call upstairs.

A few minutes later a plump little man walked up to the Man of Steel.

"Superman, how may I be of service?" The heavily accented man asked.

"I wanted to speak to you about a Jade Cat that was in Gotham and now I believe is on its way back here."

"Ah yes, the one that was almost stolen."

"Yes, I'm trying to find out where it came from. I have reason to believe it may have come from China from possibly the Himalayas."

"Come with me upstairs we will look through the records and I might be able to point you in the right direction."

The shorter man led the way with Superman following close behind. A young boy ran up to him.

"Superman, can I have your autograph?" He said with big eyes.

This was the one thing that Clark hadn't gotten used to, kids looked up to him. He wasn't scary like Batman, parents saw him as a good role model for kids. So they would run up to him just like he was a movie star.

Clark knelt down and signed the boy's notebook with a smile.

"Thanks Superman!" The boy said before running back to his mother, she smiled a thank you smile at Superman before guiding her son towards another exhibit.

Superman caught up to the waiting manager who showed him into a small office.

The office was piled with documents and books. Some that looked like they hadn't been touched in years. The manager went over to a large stack and quickly shuffled through them, finally finding the one he was looking for he brought it to the half covered desk.

"Here we go, before coming here the Jade Cat came from France, South Africa and I think originally Tibet. Sounds like your information was close, from what this says I would check out Himachal."

Superman pulled out his belt buckle computer and typed Himachal into the computer's GPS system.

"Got it, thanks for the help."

"My pleasure."

Superman walked out of the building with a growing frown on his face, _that was too easy _he thought to himself. He looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He jumped into the air and flew towards the hotel that Alfred had made reservations at. He still couldn't get rid of the feeling that there was something wrong, like someone was watching him. He found a deserted alley a couple of blocks away and changed into his street clothes.

He walked the rest of the way to the hotel; Alfred had chosen nicely, it was nice to not have to worry about money. The manager came over to meet him at the front desk.

"Mr. Kent, I thought you were coming in later tonight."

"I decided to hop on an earlier flight." Clark said with a smile. "My luggage will be coming later. I just **had **to get out of Gotham." Clark had adopted a bit of Bruce's playboy image, people didn't look too deep when they thought you were shallow.

"Very good sir, if you will wait for just a moment, let me make sure your rooms are ready." The manager said as he walked around the counter and picked up a phone.

Clark looked around the lobby area, it was tastefully decorated. No wonder Alfred picked it, these guys pay attention to detail. There wasn't a spot of dust anywhere.

"Mr. Kent, your room is ready if you will follow me." The manager began to lead the way.

Clark followed him into an elevator and watched the numbers change as they went up. He assumed that Alfred had gotten the penthouse and was soon pleasantly surprised when the doors opened revealing a beautiful suite of rooms. The manager showed him the highlights and then left Clark alone.

Clark walked into the master bedroom and opened the curtains. It was a beautiful morning here in Rome, Lois and Alfred should be halfway over the ocean by now and would be arriving in a few hours. Clark quickly changed back into his suit and leapt out the window in the direction of Tibet.


	6. Ra's

Thank you guys for reading and reviewing!

MarkMark261: Thanks for the spelling help, I tried to find all the mistakes in this chapter, and hopefully you will find none. I need a perfect spell check that knows what I'm thinking.

Tejdog1: Yeah I know Lana and Pete got married but since I killed off Lana earlier I figured I'd have to have him marry Chloe. (Besides I like Chloe)

Just a quick note, my Ra's is based more on the animated series then the movie or comic books.

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Ra's**

Superman sped high over the mountains, cruising over the snow covered tops. He looked down at his GPS receiver and laughed when it hesitated, trying in vain to figure out where he was. He slowed down to allow the satellites to acquire his location. _Going to have to get the tech division to build a better receiver, _he thought to himself.

Correcting his course, he soon found himself hovering over a small village at the base of the mountains. He flew down towards a little temple on the east end of the village, on a hunch that the cat might have come from there.

He landed on the temple's steps and looked around. Something was out of place, how could something really be out of place in a small village like this. And then it hit him, there were no people. No animal noises, no birds flying.

_I must be in the right place._ He thought as he walked through the temple's doors, he looked around the small room. It seemed to have been unoccupied for many years. There was a thick layer of dust on everything except…He was suddenly kicked in the face and he flew back through the temple's door and out into the snow. He slid back on the icy street for several feet before getting to his feet. He brushed himself off and walked back into the building to find over twenty ninjas waiting for him and a single older man in the middle of them. Superman prepared to take them all on when the man in the center spoke.

"Superman. You have been searching for me." The older man said, his voice echoing off the walls of the small temple.

"Ra's." Superman said in a low voice.

"Very good, the Detective has always spoken highly of you. He said you were a quick study and I must agree. You have picked up his methods fairly well. Although you have kept me waiting for a bit longer than I had anticipated."

"You were waiting for me?" Superman said, trying to hide his surprise.

"Of course, I wait and watch for many things. I've been watching you for some time. You have stepped up and defended the Detective's city well." Ra's said as he circled the room. "What I am here today is to present you with the opportunity to take your work to a new level. My goal is to have peace world wide. Just think of it no more hunger, no more pain and suffering. Life would be pleasant. With you at my side together we could quickly change the world"

Superman looked deep into the older mans eyes, "Ra's I've read your file, you are an eco-terrorist. You want to rid the world of evil by destroying whole cities. You must know by watching me that I will never do that."

Ra's shook his head, "I knew that was a probability, but I thought I would ask first. Unfortunately that leaves me with a problem, what will I do with you. You will only try to stop me and my plans."

"I will stop you." Superman narrowed his eyes at the older man.

"Perhaps with time you will come around…" Ra's began to walk away.

"Hey we're not done here." Superman started to make a grab for Ra's.

The ninjas converged on Superman and began to try to take him down. He punched one guy through the wall, kicked another causing him to fly up and land on one of the ceiling's support beams. One man tried to stab him with a dagger and quickly found himself flying out the front door into the snow with a broken blade. The remaining ninjas regrouped and all jumped at Superman at the same time. Surprised, Superman found himself on the ground pinned down by the ninjas. Superman smiled as he began to slowly levitate him and the pile of men off the ground, once they were a couple feet in the air he began to spin rapidly and one by one then ninjas were spun off into walls, tables and the floor. Superman stopped spinning to face Ra's.

"Ra's I'm disappointed. Is this all you have to throw at me?"

"I'd hoped that it wouldn't come to this." Ra's pulled a piece of Kryptonite from a lead container and held it in his palm.

Superman quickly moved away from Ra's out of the range of the radiation, his suit resisted the radiation and allowed him to get away before it sapped his strength.

"I now have in my possession a young woman of your acquaintance, who I will hold hostage until my plan is complete. We'll meet again soon Icon." He turned an opened a secret door in the wall.

"Ra's I swear if you harm one hair on her head…" Superman threatened.

"Fear not, she will not suffer unless you try to interfere."

Superman grabbed a tracer from his belt and threw it so that attached itself to Ra's cloak just as the door closed behind him. _I knew that I shouldn't have let her come... _

Turning he sighed as he began to tie up the men that were spread all over the room and flew them to the nearest authorities. Superman pulled the tracker receiver from his belt and watched as Ra's took a southwest direction. _I'll find you Lois. I promise._

Superman arrived at the hotel a short time later to find Alfred unpacking in the room.

"I'm so sorry Master Clark, they gassed the plane when we arriving…" Alfred started to say.

"It's not your fault Alfred; Ra's has her to keep me from interfering. It's my fault I shouldn't have let her come." Clark said with a weary voice.

"Do you have a plan?" The older man asked.

"I attached a tracking device to Ra's, hopefully when he lands it will be at his base. Until then…"

"Might I suggest dinner?" Alfred wheeled in a cart loaded with several different dishes.

Clark pulled his suit off and shrugged on a robe; he sat down at the table and ate slowly and in silence as he watched the tracker. _Please God keep her safe…_

Several hours later Clark awoke to find himself sleeping at the table, it was now dark out and Alfred had cleared the dishes around him. He quickly picked up the tracker and found that the dot had stopped. Clark quickly walked over to the laptop and other equipment that Alfred had setup during his slumber. He plugged the tracker into the laptop and quickly linked it up to the Batcomputer in the Cave. He hijacked a couple of the government's satellites and was able to get several good overhead infrared shots of…the desert.

He could see that the base was built into the side of a mountain; the part that was visible was heavily fortified. The large walls cooled from the heat at a different rate then the rest of the desert causing them to show up well on the night image. There were several guards patrolling. Unfortunately Ra's had most of his lair below ground, hiding it from the satellite.

"Alfred I'm afraid that I won't be able to find her before they realize I'm there. I'm fast, but if I don't know where I'm going…" Clark said turning from the computer.

"I do have a suggestion sir; maybe speed and strength are not the answer here. Maybe you should rely on stealth." Alfred said as he walked over to the closet and pulled out a black costume not too unlike Batman's. It was totally black except for his logo in silver on the front. It had no cape and had a black gloves and utility belt.

"This was one of the first suits I had made for you, one that I quickly put away when you chose your colors. I thought it might be useful some day and I've updated it with your logo and your current tool set. It does not however have the kryptonite resistance that your current suit has as it is made out of the same material that I used for Batman's summer costumes, hopefully that will not be an issue."

Clark walked over and took the black suit from Alfred. "This might just work Alfred."

"Just a few thoughts sir." Alfred said as the younger man changed, "Ra's will be expecting you and from what we know of him he will kill Lois. Move slowly, don't take risks. You _will _find her." Alfred handed the black utility belt to the now costumed Clark.

"Thanks Alfred." Clark buckled the belt and flew out into the night.


	7. Rescue

Christiana AndersonAcutally that is how you spell Ra's name: Ra's Al Ghul. I had to look it up myself cause I knew I would get nailed if I got it wrong.

markmark261: Well I tried can't seem to catch all the spelling mistakes, you are the master! Keep 'em coming and when I'm done with the story and fix them all at once.

Scary-Girly: I wrote this from Clark's perspective, so you only get to see what he sees. I think my next story will do a revolving pov, you might enjoy that more. I'm the type of person that does one thing at a time, so you'll have to wait until this story is done before I start on the next one.

Thanks all for reading and reviewing.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 7 - Rescue**

Clark sped through the sky like a wraith; the new moon shedding no light on him. As he neared the Sahara desert he began to drop his altitude rapidly until he was almost skimming the sand dunes. Only slowing down to a halt when he was a several hundred yards from the fortress.

With his vision he was able to see the guards patrolling the top of the wall and he began to time their patrols. Once sure of himself he raced towards the wall, flying as low to the ground as possible. He landed next to the base and used his X-Ray vision to check the patrols above. Seeing that they were right where they should be he leapt over the wall and quietly lowered himself into the shadows on the other side.

On seeing a lone guard reporting for duty he quietly snuck up behind him and knocked the man unconscious and took his keycard.

Again waiting for the timing of the guards above him on the wall, he broke for the door and made it inside without raising an alarm. He felt a little unsure of himself as the door closed behind him.

He tried to click on his GPS receiver to record his movements but the mountain blocked all communication it seemed. _Going to do this the hard way._ Clark thought to himself.

He started to walk down one of the corridors, speeding through the field of vision of the cameras. If it wasn't for his x-ray vision he knew he would have gotten totally turned around, using it allowed him to get an idea of where he was. And then it hit him, _no wonder I never found him, he was under this mountain and it's lined with led and concrete. _

After about twenty minutes of searching he stumbled across three guards on patrol, as they passed his hidden position he quickly disarmed them, tied them up and hid them in the darkness.

He grabbed the youngest guard and dragged him up to face level, "If you value your life, you will tell me **quietly** where the prisoners are kept."

The man nodded his head and Superman removed the gag, "Those stairs…take those stairs down two levels, take your first right."

Superman re-gagged the man and made his way down two levels, _this is too easy…this could be a trap._ Deciding that there was nothing he could do about it but continue Clark walked down the hallway. He began to x-ray the doors as he passed them, the first several doors were all barracks for the guards, probably the ones assigned to guard these prisoners. And then he came to a heavily bared door, he didn't even have to use his vision to know who was inside. As quietly as he could he broke the locks and removed the huge bar that went across the door and swung the huge door silently open.

He almost lost the contents of his stomach with what he saw inside. It was most certainly Bruce; he still wore his cowl or what was left of it. One of the ears was torn off and the back of the cowl looked like it had been rubbed clean off, maybe he was dragged around. The part of his face that was uncovered was black and blue. No bones were broken, someone knew what they were doing. His bare chest was red and burnt from fire burns and probably electrical shock. He probably weighed all of one hundred twenty pounds.

"Bruce?" Clark said with a shaky voice.

The man looked up at him, "Clark?"

Clark slowly undid the restraints and carefully gathered the broken man into his arms. "My God, what did they do to you?"

Bruce waved his hand wearily, "Later…we have to stop Ra's."

Clark, put his feelings to the side checked the hallway; "Ok we are clear. Which way?"

Bruce pointed back towards the stairway, "All the way down."

Clark supported Bruce and they slowly made their way down the flights of stairs. They could have gone faster if Bruce would have let Clark carry him. But he knew that wasn't an option for Bruce, he would never show weakness. On reaching the bottom, the stairs opened into a huge cavern. Clark could see Ra's talking to several men, probably making last minute arrangements for whatever he had planned. The room was loaded with guards and equipment; this was not going to be easy.

Bruce caught sight of Lois and motioned for Clark to circle around to rescue her, he would provide the distraction.

He gathered his remaining strength and pulled himself upright.

"Ra's." Bruce spoke with a commanding voice as he marched straight into the middle of the room.

All the guards took aim at Bruce, Ra's looked up from the plans he was going over with his men. "Ah, Detective, you have been released from your cell."

He waved his hand to signal his men to lower their weapons, "I can only assume that your protégé has arrived now. You have trained him well, I was even expecting him and he made it though my defenses without my knowledge." Ra's looked around to where Lois had been tied up. "And he is very quick."

Clark appeared at Bruce's side, "Ra's whatever madness you have planned must stop now."

"It is too late Icon. By now my plans are underway and can not be stopped. Around the world I have planted a toxic nerve gas that will kill instantly every human that inhales it. In exactly eight minutes and twenty seconds all of those bombs will go off and cleanse all of the world's countries of their capital cities." Ra's said with a deadly smile. "I led you here so you would be safe from the toxin, as I need you to help me rebuild the world."

Clark hit a few buttons on his belt computer.

**8 min 10 sec.** The LCD display read.

Bruce was filled with outrage, his eyes burned with it, his back straightened as the adrenaline flowed through his veins. he spoke quietly to Clark. "Lois is safe?"

"Yes."

"Even the playing field here, bar the door and then dispose of the bombs."

"Done."

Clark removed all the guns from the room and threw them in a pile and melted them; he found a long rope and tied all the guards together, hanging them from a support beam. He turned back to where Ra's was standing and he was surprised to see Ra's right behind him. He was even more surprised to feel the Kryptonite sap his strength away as he hit the ground. _How could I have forgotten the Kryptonite?_ He thought as the pain ate through his body.

"You Bastard!" Lois cried before Bruce could react, she had ran from her hiding place and hit Ra's hand with a lead pipe. Ra's was surprised as the rock flew from his hand but quickly recovered and blocked her second attack. And he quickly disarmed her and throwing her into a pile of crates knocking her out.

Clark quickly began to recover as the rock was no longer close and got shakily to his feet.

"Finish the job. Ra's is mine." Bruce said.

**6 min 2 sec**

Clark hesitated for a sec and looked at Lois. _Focus! She'll be ok; millions will die if you don't go now. _He forced himself to leap into the air and plowed straight through the mountain side leaving a gaping hole behind him. He quickly ramped up to his fastest speed, leaving a sonic boom in his wake and began to look for the bombs. He had seen an extra one in the cave so he had a good idea of what he was looking for. He started at the closet capital and began to work his way around the world, thanking his geography teacher for covering this material so thoroughly.

**5 min 33 sec**

His countdown clock on his belt beeped as the time ticked down. He quickly fell into a rhythm and began to increase his speed. He was now flying faster than ever; he could feel the heat from the friction of the air as he flew. Everything became a blur as he raced to reach all 193 bombs, the countdown timer on his belt which he had set to beep every five seconds now took what felt like an eternity to beep.

It took him two minutes to clean out Africa, Europe and half of Asia. At three minutes he was heading towards South America after destroying the bombs in Eastern Asia and Australia. At four minutes, forty seconds he was disposing of the last bomb in Canada and turned to head back towards Ra's hideout.

At five minutes he landed next to the remains of the mountain. His eyes were wide with shock seeing the total destruction of the base. The mountain looked like it had been squeezed out like a sponge.

"Lois! Bruce?" Clark called out.

Silence answered his call; he turned on his x-ray vision and began to franticly search the area. Several long seconds later he spotted them, it looked like they had been blown free of the mountain, and from what he could tell Lois had a broken arm but otherwise they were ok.

"Lois?" He said shaking her good arm.

"Clark?" She said hoarsely.

"Are you ok? Your arm is broke but…" He fussed over her.

"Settle down, I'll be ok. How's Bruce?" Lois said as she cradled her broken arm.

Bruce began to stir, "I'll survive. Home." The adrenaline gone, he was completely exhausted.

"Ra's?" Clark asked.

"Not sure, he didn't make it out the same way we did after he triggered the self destruct timer." Lois offered.

Clark carefully picked up them up and very slowly he flew them back to Rome, shielding them from the wind as much as he could. They were quiet for most of the trip, digesting all that had happened. When they landed at the hotel in Rome, Alfred was waiting with food, hot baths and a smile.

"Welcome home Master Bruce. Ms. Lane." He said with almost a giddy note in his voice, "I'm glad to see you safe."

Alfred helped Bruce into one of the Bathrooms and helped him into the warm tub and saw to his wounds. Clark took Lois into another room and checked her arm out, the fracture was not severe and the bone would heal nicely. Clark grabbed one of the medical boxes and gave her some pain medication before he started on her cast.

"Thanks Clark." Lois said, her voice full of emotion.

Clark looked up, "For what?"

"For coming for me, I've been in a lot of bad situations before. But I wasn't as scared this time because I knew you would come and it would be alright." She said softly.

Clark smiled, "Well you know, someone has to keep Lois Lane safe, we in the superhero world drew straws and I got stuck with the duty."

"SMALLVILLE! I pour out my feelings to you, which everyone knows is not an easy thing for me to do. We all know that I don't wear my emotions on my sleeve. I thank you for saving me, and this is what I get! I…."

Clark cut her off by kissing her, carefully watching out for her arm. Her anger dissipated quickly as she deepened the kiss.

"Don't think that a kiss will get you out of trouble every time." She said breathlessly when they broke the kiss.

"You're welcome…" Clark said as he stood. "Get some sleep; it's been a rough couple of days."


	8. Recovery

You guys are all great! You've given me a lot of confidence to write this story.

Sorry about the delay, I've started my new job so I've been swamped. This is a good thing especially for MarkMark as I think my error count should go down some (I hope), as I am no longer writing this story in pieces during breaks.

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Recovery**

The next morning the sun rose into a clear sky, although no one in the penthouse hotel room noticed it. The previous long night had taken it's toll and all had stayed in bed till almost noon no one stirred until around noon. Alfred was the first to awake, muttering something under his breath about getting old and that he would never have over slept 5 years ago.

Alfred quickly started the coffee and began to prepare a brunch when Bruce slowly made his way into the kitchen.

"Good to see you up and about sir, if you will make yourself comfortable outside I will bring you some breakfast."

Bruce just nodded and slowly sat down in one of the chairs. He looked over the city and enjoyed the warm breeze. He closed his eyes and just enjoyed the sun and it's warmth.

Clark finally dragged himself out of bed about twenty minutes after Bruce and joined Bruce on the patio. Clark was glad to see some of his color was already starting to return. Alfred had tended to his cuts, burns and bruises, almost covering half his body in gauze.

"Morning Bruce." Clark said with a yawn and poured himself a glass of coffee.

"Clark."

"How you feeling?"

"Better, feel like I haven't had a good meal in years."

Clark noticed some plain crackers and other bland food on the table.

"Wouldn't call that a good meal…Alfred must be slacking off." Clark said with a grin.

"I heard that young sir. You know as well as I do that a malnourished person must be careful with what they eat. They must be worked back up to richer food." The older man said with a look as he brought a steaming plate of food to Clark. Bruce cracked a smile as he returned to looking down at the city. The two men ate in silence, both enjoying not having to worry about anything at the moment.

Clark pushed back his plate and picked up his coffee, "There's no great way to ask so I'm just going to ask...what happened?"

Bruce leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and started at the beginning.

"As you have read in the files by now, I had been checking out Ra's for several years. I knew what he was capable of and I knew he had the money to back any of his ideas. What I didn't know is that he knew that I was looking for him."

"That night we were searching the city, I had pulled over to stop a mugging. It was easy takedown; a couple of quick moves and the men were on the ground. What I didn't expect was the woman to thank me with a canister of gas in my face. When I woke several hours later I was on an airplane for an unknown destination. Ra's was there and started spewing his philosophical ideas. Of course I let him talk and pushed him to continue to so I could plan an escape. Unfortunately he had studied me and my methods and knew what I would try to do and had any attempts I would make blocked. He eventually asked me to join him. I, of course refused. I guess he thought that with time I would break down into submitting to him and his cause."

"Several times I tried getting messages to you but my attempts failed. Ra's was extremely careful with his communication equipment. I figured it would be better to be close to Ra's then escape and not be able to find him again. So I watched and waited for opportunities to sabotage equipment and studied my enemy in hopes of learning his goals."

"A few months ago, things changed, I was no longer considered a guest or pest but I became a true prisoner and they began to torture me. I assumed that the time was near for his plan to go into motion and he was trying to figure out how to get you out of the picture, knowing that you were the only one that could possibly stop him. After one long session, I purposely let it slip about the Jade Cat being made of Kryptonite. Ra's found the Cat and purposefully led you to himself as I knew he would."

"My word!" Was all that Alfred said after listening to the story.

Clark said nothing and stared into his coffee.

"Something wrong?" Bruce asked him.

"I…I should have figured it out. I knew you weren't dead but I didn't know where to start looking."

Bruce looked up to the sky as if to draw strength for this emotional moment, "I taught you well, get this through your head, **there** **were** **no** **clues**. Ra's laid his plan extremely well and cleaned up anything you could have possibly followed. I doubt that I could have found you if our roles were reversed." Bruce said quietly.

"Think about it, there were no clues at the dock, I must have been taken out by boat to a helicopter in a remote location and then taken to the plane. Yes possibly someone could have seen them take me but that person is probably dead. The cave was lined with lead, probably because of you; maybe it was a bomb shelter in a previous life, who knows."

"What you have got to see is that in the end the world was saved again, I'm alive and I will recover, Lois is safe and will heal."

Clark looked back down at his cup of coffee before looking back into the bruised face of his mentor. "Thanks Bruce, I needed that."

Then he smiled, "Who says you are a shallow guy with no emotions?"

"Ha ha…" Bruce smiled as well as he could with his injuries.

Lois walked in and gingerly sat down in the seat next to Clark.

"Morning Ms. Lane." Alfred appeared with another steaming plate of food and a big mug of coffee.

Clark laughed when Lois replied with something about being sore and tired but it was mostly gibberish.

She glared at him, "Shut up Smallville, I'll kick your ass, you know I'm not a morning person." She said much louder and began to eat slowly and drink her coffee.

Clark and laughed all the harder as Lois gave him her angry face.

They spent the rest of the day sitting around the hotel. Bruce caught up on the latest news in Gotham; he was very pleased with how Clark had taken care of his city. Crime was about average for one man working the city. He checked in on Wayne Enterprises and was saddened to hear the news of Fox's death; he had become pretty close friends with him before his disappearance. Clark had handled the business well, even expanding it in his absence.

Lois and Clark spent the rest of the afternoon just talking and watching movies. Neither felt like leaving the hotel although Lois had already laid out the next day's shopping activities.

Alfred just quietly watched over his family, getting food and drinks for them all. Although he didn't say it, he was overjoyed to have his family back together.

* * *

**One Month Later…**

_...And the world was shocked today to learn that billionaire Bruce Wayne has been found. You might remember we reported a few years ago that he had died in an unexplained plane crash that he had chartered to take him to a private island. It seems he survived the water crash and found himself on a nearby island. For the past few years he has lived on fish, water and whatever else he could find. He will be releasing a full press report later this week._

Bruce was recovering quickly now, his bodyweight was up and he was training again. His reflexes were initially sluggish and his coordination was off. But Bruce powered through the pain, driven to becoming what he had once been.

Clark came down the stairs from the house.

"Hey Bruce, how's it going?" He asked, seeing the man in the middle of a series of sit-ups.

Bruce grunted, an **_I am fine leave me alone_** grunt.

"The board of directors wants to know when you'll be coming into the office. There's some legal work to do to put the company back into your name."

Bruce stopped his sit ups and stood up. "If I come back…"

The question had a double meaning and Clark caught what Bruce was really after.

"I've been giving that some thought actually. I've been thinking that it might be time for me to find my own city. I've been keeping tabs on a few other cities in the past couple of weeks, Coast city, New York and Metropolis. All three need help but I'm leaning towards Metropolis. And if it's ok with you I would like to run the medical research division that is headquartered in there."

Bruce smiled, he was relived that Clark had no problems with letting the city or the company go. "I think that is an excellent idea, I'll come into the office tomorrow and we'll start the transition."

Clark noted the relief in his mentor's eyes, _That's right man, it's your city and your company. _He thought to himself.

Bruce moved over to the sparing mat and took up a defensive pose.

"Are you sure you're ready for me, you know I'm going to kick your ass Bruce."

Bruce just smiled and waited; Clark zipped into the vault and pulled on his workout clothes.

"I guess I'll go easy on you old man." Clark teased, throwing a slow punch.

Bruce grinned as he easily sidestepped it and landed a crushing kick to Clark's side causing him to tumble off balance.

Clark laughed as he rolled and jumped back to his feet. He dropped into a defensive style as Bruce launched an attack. Clark stepped into the attack and tossed Bruce on to his face.

Bruce got quickly back to his feet and for the next hour the two men threw each other around the cave. Both of them trying to better the other, but only succeeding in matching blow for blow. They probably would have gone all night if Alfred hadn't made them stop for dinner.

After pushing back their plates Bruce turned to Clark, "Any plans for tonight?"

"Nope, Lois is visiting Chloe and they are working out wedding plans." Clark said.

"Then I think a night on the town sounds good." Bruce said with a smile as the two men stood and made their way to the secret entrance to the Batcave.


	9. New Begining

The Batmobile blasted out of the Batcave down the familiar empty forest road. Batman drove the car expertly as ever down the winding roads as if he had never been gone. Superman flew slowly overhead watching his mentor enjoy being back behind the wheel of his amazing customized vehicle.

As they entered the city limits he could see the people below turn to see the sleek car fly by. The possible criminals who roamed the streets looking for easy prey cowered back into the shadows, an old forgotten fear returning to their hearts. _The Bat is back. _

Batman navigated straight to police headquarters, pulling into an all too familiar parking spot in an alley a couple of blocks away from the building. The roof opened up and in one smooth motion he pulled his grappling gun out and fired it towards a roof top. He glided up into the night air to join Superman as they quickly descended on the window ledge that looked into Gordon's office.

They waited until Gordon had sent the night shift off to their various assignments before quietly sneaking into his office.

"Jim." Batman said quietly in his gruff voice.

"YOU!" Gordon said turning in surprise which quickly melted into a huge smile, "You know as much as I hate you sneaking in like that, I've really missed it." The older cop said. "I'd ask where you have been but I think I probably don't really want to know."

Batman nodded his response, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm back."

_Right to business, Yep he's back alright_ Gordon thought, "I'm glad partner." Gordon peered into the darkness, "Batman?" But the Dark Knight was already gone.

Word got around fairly quickly on the street that he was back, so things became quiet rather quickly. The two men sat up atop one of the skyscrapers as if daring the underworld to do something. And being that it's the underworld it doesn't like to disappoint. The sound of a ringing burglar alarm filled the night air.

Instantly Batman was in the air, free falling towards the shop. A grapple caught a ledge bringing him swooping into the store front window.

"Meeeeoooow! Bravo, how I've missed those entrances." A low seducing voice called from the darkness.

Superman could just see the edge of Batman's lip twitch up, "Catwoman."

She ignored him and moved closer to Batman, "So junior found you, Gotham's been such a bore with you gone. I almost gave up crime."

"What did I tell you about stealing in my town?" He replied, hiding his emotions.

Catwoman put her hands on her hip and glared at the man in black. "I came all the way over here to say welcome back and that's the thanks I get? I know you missed me." She moved closer to him and touched his face. "And I haven't taken anything…yet." She grabbed a loot bag at her feet and leapt out the door. Her whip lashed out and took her swinging into the dark night.

Superman smiled as he watched Batman dash after her. Looking around the store, he could tell nothing was damaged. And the champagne and glasses he saw with his x-ray vision in the loot bag were not from this jewelry store.

After fixing the lock on the door and telling the police that had just pulled up that everything was ok. He leapt into the air and did another sweep of the city. Finding the city quiet he headed back early to the cave.

* * *

**A Few months later...**

Superman flew slowly overhead taking in the sights of his new city as people pointed up to the sky. Little kids with their mouths open, _MOM! IS THAT HIM? IS THAT SUPERMAN?_

He gave them a friendly wave before flying on. He was now dressed in what Alfred had called a people friendlier suit. It was a lighter blue suit with a red cape, red boots and a gold S on his chest. Alfred had said that while Gotham needed to be scared into following the law. Metropolis needed someone to look up to, a hero not an avenger.

"Superman, over here." Superman turned to see a man waving his hand from the balcony of a tall skyscraper…LexCorp.

"Luther." Superman said as politely as he could, his arms folded across his chest. He hadn't forgotten his unsolved mystery of Lana's death.

"So cold a greeting…" Lex began with a smirk, "I'll forgive it this once. Now that you have awed my city with your pretty costume. I would like to offer you a real job. This is my town and I don't think we can share it…"

"Look Luthor, I don't have time to play games with you." He started to fly away and turned back, "And you are right, this town isn't big enough for both of us." He said with a flash in his eyes.

Clark flew away from the building with a burst of speed towards his new home, leaving Lex speechless. Bruce had set him up with a huge penthouse suite in the middle of Metropolis. Its design and location gave him an excellent home base for his new patrols. Being that Bruce set it up, it was plush and very luxurious but also very superhero functional.

There was a large secret room where Clark stored his costume and supplies. Several computers and lab equipment all linked to the Batcave. It was sound proof and virtually undetectable to the outside world, Clark didn't even notice it before Bruce had opened it up. Lois had jokingly referred to it as the Supercave.

Bruce had also set Clark up as the new head of Wayne Enterprise's Medical Division after Clark had signed the company back over to Bruce. Clark was quickly discovering it was a great fit for him. He had a lot more freedom during the day to make rounds through the city and still be back for his meetings with his VP's.

"Smallville?" He came out of his deep thoughts, "Saving the world?" Lois said from the open front door behind him. He had changed and had been standing on the balcony looking out into the city, dressed in one of his best suits.

"No…" He said with a smile, _totally busted_, he thought before changing the subject. "You look amazing tonight." She was stunning in a long black strapless dress. Her hair was up in with a few pieces framing her face.

"Tonight?" She asked with a hand on her hip and a smile on her lips.

"Uh…I mean…uh…" Clark fumbled.

Lois laughed, "Gotcha with that one huh? So where we going?"

Clark just smiled, "You'll see."

Clark had made reservations at one of the finest restaurants in town, with a spectacular view of the city. He walked her to the elevator and put his hand around his waist, checking his jacket pocket with his free hand for a special small box…

* * *

Sorry for the delay and how short this chapter was, I was having a lot of trouble ending this story. I hope you all enjoyed the story. I realize that I didn't really tie up all the loose ends but I learned a few things from writing this story that I will apply to my next ones. Like how to write a better outline! Thanks to all who reviewed, you guys kept me motivated to finish this story.

Looking forward to writing another one…


End file.
